Governor’s spokesman Ian Fury takes media to task for misleading readers on updating education standards

Governor Kristi Noem’s Chief of Communications, Ian Fury is taking the media to task for their reporting on the Governor’s Education Standards group.

In an e-mail sent out this morning, he points out that the media seems to be intentionally distorting numbers, and misleading people over the people on the panel for the sake of headlines:

Folks, 

The media is not telling the truth about the process to update South Dakota’s education standards. Unfortunately, when South Dakota’s largest media outlets deliberately manipulate the truth, it is the people of our state who suffer. 

The South Dakota Department of Education recently announced a new workgroup to ensure that our kids are taught true and honest civics and history in the classroom. The Department and the Governor’s Office worked together on the membership of this group. After all, the Department of Education is part of the executive branch. They work for the people’s elected Governor, and the Secretary of Education is appointed by the Governor. 

Nonetheless, the Argus Leader apparently found it inappropriate that the Governor would have any involvement in an action taken by her own administration. They took issue with the membership of the group, printing ‘It’s a slap in the face’ in their headline. In particular, they took issue with the group including “only three people with active South Dakota K-12 teaching certificates.”  

That statement is completely misleading. The group includes 15 members, meaning that teachers get 20% of the seats at the table. But a strong majority of the members also have education backgrounds. Two members of the committee are former South Dakota teachers. One teaches in Nebraska. One is a college professor. One is the State Director of Indian Education. One is the State Historian and former Secretary of Education. One is a tribal historian.  

Teachers deserve seats at the table – but there are other stakeholders who need to be there, too. And this is not the only chance teachers will have to come to the table during this process — teachers, parents, students, and the general public will have multiple opportunities to weigh-in on the standards during the public comment period. This will be a transparent and public process. 

The misleading reporting doesn’t end there, though. For instance, three members of the group are Native American. In another example of the media manipulating the facts, Keloland reported earlier this week that “only three members of the new workgroup are… members of tribal communities.” Three of 15 is 20%, or more than twice the 9% of South Dakota’s population that is Native American. These three individuals have extensive knowledge and education in Native American history, culture, and language.  

By using dismissive language, the media is discounting the Native Americans on this workgroup, who will help present a broad, fair, and accurate inclusion of Native American history. Governor Noem recognized that Native American history and culture is an important part of South Dakota’s history, so she ensured that Native Americans were more than represented with seats at the table.  

But this emerging media narrative ignores another key fact that the media should have learned last year – PARENTS deserve a seat at the table, too. ” Governor Noem recognizes that parents should have a voice, so several members of the workgroup are parents of kids currently in school. 

Trust in media remains at historic lows, and not just among registered Republicans. Only 31% of registered Independents trust the media. The media should wake up to that reality and refocus their efforts on truth, not on a preferred political narrative; on education, not indoctrination.  

Regards,
Ian Fury 

What do you think?